Chris Kreider scored a crucial goal on a power play late in the third period, leading the New York Rangers to a 4-3 win over the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night. The game began with a big fight involving 10 players.
Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere each had a goal and an assist, and Kaapo Kakko also scored for the Rangers, who are currently leading the NHL. Igor Shesterkin made 17 saves as the Rangers won their sixth game out of seven and their 11th in the last 14.
“It’s a big win,” Kreider said, happy with their 51st win of the season. “Division games are important. You saw the emotion. So it’s a big two points.”
Nico Hischier, Ondrej Palat, and Brendan Smith scored for the Devils in the second period, while Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 37 shots. New Jersey has lost three games in a row and is still six points behind Washington for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
“The guys stood up for each other,” said Devils’ top scorer Jesper Bratt, who had two assists. “It’s tough. We played a great game as a whole considering the situation we were in.”
After being down 3-2 after the second period, the Rangers tied the game with Kakko’s goal early in the third period. Kreider then scored the go-ahead goal with just under five minutes remaining. Panarin also assisted on Kreider’s goal, extending his lead as the top scorer for the Rangers this season.
The Rangers swept the Devils in their four-game series this season, less than a year after the Devils won a playoff series against the Rangers in seven games.
The game started with a lot of physicality, as all 10 skaters on the ice got into fights right after the opening face off. Eight players were ejected for receiving game misconduct just 2 seconds into the game, leaving both teams with fewer skaters for the rest of the game.
“After a situation like that, the rest of the team has to pick up a lot of slack and a lot of minutes,” said Devils forward Kurtis MacDermid, who had a lengthy fight with Rangers rookie Matt Rempe.
